Floods, landslides kill 37 in Vietnam, scores missing

At least 37 people were killed and another 40 are missing as floods and
landslides ravaged northern and central Vietnam, disaster officials said
Thursday.

Heavy rains lashed swathes of the country this week, with northern Hoa Binh
province the hardest hit with 11 dead and 21 missing.

"We are mobilising all forces to search for the missing," a disaster
official in the province told AFP by phone.

At least 37 people were killed across six provinces, Vietnam Disaster
Management Authority said, as authorities scrambled to find dozens of people
still missing.

A journalist from Vietnam News Agency was swept away as an overflowing river
cut through a bridge in northern Yen Bai province Wednesday. Authorities were
still looking for him Thursday.

Images on state media showed people wading through waist-deep waters and
tracts of forests wiped out by landslides in several regions.

At least 18 people were buried in an overnight landslide in Hoa Binh
province, with 15 people still missing Thursday, according to state media.

A terrified resident described severe flooding in other parts of the
province, where a state of emergency was declared.

"The flash flood was terrible. Water poured down from the hill, like a surge
three metres (10 feet) high. Traffic has been blocked because of the floods,"
Phan Ba Dien told state-controlled VNExpress news site.

Eight people were reported dead in both Nghe An and Thanh Hoa provinces, the
disaster agency said, while hundreds of soldiers and militia were deployed for
rescue efforts.

At least 400 millimetres (16 inches) of rain has pounded northern and
central Vietnam since Sunday, the disaster agency said.

Vietnam has been hard hit by severe weather this year.

In September typhoon Doksuri slammed into central Vietnam, killing 11 people
and destroying thousands of properties.

Nearly 170 people are dead or missing from natural disasters this year,
which have caused $36 million of damage, according to official figures.